A spade-like, short handle tool, also known as a trowel, is conventionally used by a person for removing weeds from a garden or lifting root and plant from the soil for transplanting. These tools often bend at the juncture of the blade and handle when force is applied to the handle to try and remove the plant together with its roots by a prying action. To prevent this bending the soil must be extremely loose which is not always the case. Another drawback is that the earth often sticks to the blade of the trowel and this must be scraped off in some manner before continuing to use the trowel in removing another plant with its roots.